Gina Joy Carano (born April 16, 1982) is an American Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter. Her specialty is Muay Thai. Carano also appears as the Gladiator "Crush" on American Gladiators, where she has received a considerable fan base.
Early life
Carano was born in Dallas County, Texas, the daughter of Glenn Thomas Carano and Dana Joy Cason. She is a former psychology student at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Her father, Glenn Carano, played for the Dallas Cowboys as a backup quarterback from 1977-1983 and for the USFL Pittsburgh Maulers as a starter in 1984.
Martial arts career
After racking up a Muay Thai record of 12-1-1, Carano received an offer to participate in the first ever female sanctioned MMA bout in Nevada. She was invited to the World Pro Fighting show in Las Vegas to fight Rosi Sexton from the United Kingdom.[1]
She fought on the February 10, 2007, Showtime EliteXC card, defeating Julie Kedzie via unanimous decision in what was called "the fight of the night".[2]
Her scheduled bout against Jan Finney at the EliteXC/K-1 Dynamite!! USA event on June 2, 2007 was canceled due to illness.The Fight Network and other organizations reported that she was rushed to the hospital via ambulance due to dehydration while attending a World Extreme Cagefighting event as a spectator.[3]
Carano fought on the September 15, 2007, Showtime EliteXC card, where she defeated Tonya Evinger via rear naked choke for her first career win by submission.
Carano is scheduled to fight against former Hook n Shoot champion Kaitlin Young on the CBS EliteXC debut on May 31, 2008.
Along with Lisa King, Carano serves as a mentor to aspiring female fighters in the Oxygen reality series Fight Girls. She currently appears as "Crush" on the NBC show American Gladiators. She will also be featured in the new Michael Jai White film Blood and Bone slated to be released sometime in 2008.[4]
She also was profiled in a feature story for the ESPN series E:60 which involved the serious issue of her competing in MMA because of her gender and sellind herself as a person. Due to Carano's story, she was the third searched person on Yahoo! for the day of May 13th, 2008.
Source : Wikipedia
